Miami Denied Shot At Super Bowl 52
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami may consider itself super, but the National Football League isn't ready to give another Super Bowl to South Florida at least for the next four years.
Reports emerged Monday that the Miami Dolphins had formally applied to host Super Bowl 52 in 2018. But, shortly before 5 p.m., Miami and Tampa were both eliminated from the contest to host the Super Bowl.
The decision was made during NFL Fall meetings being held this week in Washington. The team was ready with an official bid to the league if it had been selected as a finalist for Super Bowl 52.
A total of six cities put in applications to host the 2018 game: Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Dallas, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis.
Denying Miami another Super Bowl is the latest move by the NFL to try to force South Florida to update Sun Life Stadium. The Dolphins had been finalists for both Super Bowls 50 & 51, but when the team's stadium renovation plan died; South Florida lost out.
The next Super Bowl is in New York City in February. If a snowstorm/blizzard hits at the time of the game, while it could make the game more interesting, it would make the fan experience a big story. But, the NFL has said warm weather is no longer enough to get the Super Bowl into areas.
Miami has hosted 10 of the first 47 Super Bowls — tied with New Orleans for the most in history. The game was last held in South Florida in 2010.
The next four Super Bowl locations are New York/New Jersey at MetLife Stadium, Arizona's University of Phoenix Stadium, San Francisco's Levi's Stadium and Houston's Reliant Stadium.
Stephen Ross, though, doesn't want to give up and plans to woo the public with a promise to contribute more of his own money for the stadium re-do.
"He's willing to sweeten the pie and make every effort better. I mean look at the off season, he spent $100,000,000 to put a better team on the field," said Rodney Barreto of the South Florida Super Bowl Committee.
Over at Shula Burger, Dolphins coaching legend Don Shula is backing the stadium deal.
"Whatever we can do to get the NFL to give us another Super Bowl—I'm going to help in any way I can," said Shula.
At Whole Foods Market in Pinecrest, CBS4's Gary Nelson couldn't find much support for the stadium deal.
"We have a government shutdown and my husband's not getting paid, he's furloughed, and you want to talk about the Dolphin's? No. Not me and I come from a football family," said Virginia Mair, a Palmetto Bay resident.
